(Closed) For those of you who eloped or had a teeny wedding photography questions.

I’m a photographer out of Phoenix, but I will be getting married in Las Vegas, we aren’t doing a wedding really but photos are the absolute most important detail for me. So what I want photographed is

The getting ready stages, my hair & make-up, dress and all that in the hotel

A few of the ceremony

and then an hour-long session afterwards of he & I at a pretty location

How would i look for something like that…? I don’t want to pay over $1,000 if I only have the photographer for maybe 3 hours if that since it will mainly be session work vs actual event photography, let me know if you’ve used someone for this!

We are doing something similar, an Elopement to a Destination Wedding (just the two of us overlooking the Beach / Ocean in Myrtle Beach)… our plan is minimum photography… just an hour or two. Getting Ready – Wedding Ceremony – and some after shots on the Beach

We are just contacting Photographers to find out their availability and what they’d charge for such a thing… (still in the process, so I can’t help you out further in regards to Quotes etc)

Honestly, I think it is the best you can do given the scenario (not a full on Wedding job for say 4, 5, 6 or more hours)

@This Time Round: Thanks again on your input on both of my posts 🙂 Good idea I will do the same, and contact some to see, since it’s Las Vegas I’m sure they offer some kind of elopement package or are asked about that type of pricing often.

We did exactly what you are doing! Only, we did it in NYC, so I can’t speak for Vegas, but I CAN tell you that our photographer (in Manhattan, natch) charged us somewhere around $500. And she was fabulous–good eye and professional.

I don’t think my advice is that different from basic photog advice, but FWIW:

1. The most important thing is to find a photog that you LOVE. Not like or respect, but you LOVE as a person, not just as a photographer. Because s/he will be with you during intimate moments and you want to feel comfortable. The best photog in the world can’t photoshop the shakiness out of a nervous smile.

2. Tell the photog your plans and see how s/he responds. We’re not photogs ourselves, but we felt that shooting a huge wedding required a different sort of set of skills and temperament than shooting an elopement, and we wanted a photog who had done similar-type weddings in the past, so ask for their experience. We were keen on looking at engagement sessions for this reason because it’s similar–just the couple and the photog.

3. I DO think that Vegas might be similar to NYC in that you should assess your photog in terms of how s/he can deal with crowds and how s/he can make YOU comfortable being photographed in crowds–especially if you want shots of yourselves on the strip or something. It takes a photographer with some experience to know how to handle say, Times Square, so that was something that we looked for as well.

@happyface: That is probably the only thing I would be a BrideZilla about =/ I would probably get myself into trouble trying to edit their work lol jk I’ll make sure that whoever I go with, has a strong eye.

@BothCoasts: Thank you so much! I was so glad to see that you had already done this! I will definitely take your advice I was thinking around $500 would be appropriate for this kind of deal, I mean it’s kind of like hey, follow us around for a couple of hours, make us beautiful and we’ll pay you for it 🙂